ABUSE OF GREYHOUND DOGS IN GREYHOUND RACING

Introduction

Tens of thousands of greyhound dogs are retired each year, but only a
small number of these are re-homed. What is the fate of the rest of
these dogs, who have not even reached half their expected age by the
time they retire from racing? Read on to find out.

Page Contents

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Greyhound Racing looks fairly harmless on the surface. But when you
delve deeper in to the reality of it, there is a murky world behind the
facade. Appalling cruelty takes place behind the scenes in this money
driven industry.

The majority of racing greyhounds which do not
make money for their owners are callously killed in a variety of
horrifyingly inhumane ways. Others are neglected and starved until dead,
sold to vivisectors in animal experimentation labs, beaten and left for dead, drowned, and abandoned.

Below: Unwanted Greyhound dogs, murdered then dumped. Racing dogs
are regularly inhumanely killed once they no longer make money for
owners and trainers in the Greyhound racing industry.

Greyhound dogs are kept in tip-top running condition when they are
making their owners and backers money. Those are the Greyhound dogs that
are seen by the public and is the image promoted by the Greyhound
racing world. Even so, they do not receive the love and affection dogs
crave.

The Greyhounds are thought of as commodities and may
become worth nothing in monetary terms through age, being injured or
simply not having made the grade. Because the industry is money driven,
owners do not want to pay to look after dogs who are not making them
money.

Below: An unwanted Greyhound dog in bag, with it's leg poking out a
hole, that has been killed then dumped on waste ground (right). Close
up of another unwanted killed Greyhound.

Before being thrown out on the streets, left to die or inhumanely
killed, many Greyhounds are subjected the agonising torture of having
their ears sliced off, without any anaesthetic or painkilling method.

This is done because racing dogs have identity tattoos in their ears which their owners can be traced from.

Below: A Greyhound which had it's ears sliced off before being
abandoned. Greyhound dogs' ears are cut off so the owner can not be
traced through ID tattoos in their ears used in Greyhound racing. No
anaesthetic or painkilling methods are used, so the dogs are put through
agony. It also leaves them extremely susceptible to infection. This can
lead to a slow and horrific death.

Apart from being extremely cruel, this leaves the dog very vulnerable to
life threatening infection. Infection causes these dogs a long
horrible, painful death if not treated.

Rather than this
barbaric act being performed, the dogs could be taken to a re-homing
shelter. After all, it is not illegal to take a dog to be re-homed and
Greyhounds make fantastic pets.

It is a misconception that
ex-racing Greyhounds need excessive exercise. In fact, they just need a
normal amount like any other dog, and can enjoy lazing around a lot.
However, they usually love a bit of a run if the opportunity arises.

Below: Rescued ex-racing Greyhounds with owners who adopted them.
Their owners says Greyhound dogs make the most wonderful pets.

Some retired Greyhounds are locked away and neglected, starved of food,
water, warmth, exercise, love and affection, veterinary treatment and
contact with the outside world. They do not make money, so owners and
trainers see no value in them at all and see no point in keeping them
alive.

Below: Neglected, starving and suffering ex-racing Greyhound dogs.
These dogs are unwanted and uncared for by their owners and trainers in
the Greyhound racing industry because they no longer make money for
them.

Another fate that Greyhounds who are no longer wanted face is being sold to animal experimentation laboratories. There, they have a miserable existence of fear, pain and misery.

They
are put through mental torture and driven mad by being confined to tiny
cages, and they are only taken out to be tortured in cruel and painful
animal tests. They are denied the love and affection they desperately
long for and are terrified of the only people they see due to the pain
they inflict upon them.

Having suffering prolonged agony being
experimented on, the Greyhounds are killed. That is if they have not
died from the trauma before then.

To find out more about what happens to animals in research laboratories, please see the animal experimentation page.

There are some individuals that see a business opportunity in the
killing and disposing of retired Greyhound dogs. The greyhound racing
trainers and owners pass on their retired dogs for such people
to kill in any way they wish, and dispose of.

Below: Andrew Gough caused Greyhound dog Rusty, and many others, a frightening death by shooting them.

Below: This man transports the dead bodiesof dogs he was paid to kill.

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